Category: magistrates

‘Former magistrate Richard Page has been granted permission to take his case against the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Page is accusing the most senior judges in England and Wales of victimising him for his view that children do best when raised by both a mother and a father.’

‘If you want to appeal against a guilty verdict given by a crown court jury you first have to seek permission from the Court of Appeal. For permission to be granted, a judge has to be satisfied there is an ‘arguable case’ that the conviction was ‘unsafe’. If so, the appeal is heard in full by a panel of three judges. The latest figures show that in 2016-17 the court received 1305 applications for permission to appeal, and dealt with 850, refusing permission to 695 (82 per cent). It heard 215 appeals, and allowed 78 – 36 per cent of those heard.’

‘London cab drivers have applied for judicial review against Westminster Magistrates’ Court in a dispute over whether a judge’s decision to grant a licence to the taxi app firm Uber was tainted with bias.’

‘Defendants are “gaming the system” in specialist domestic violence courts by intimidating partners into not appearing in the expectation that magistrates will drop charges, a critical report has said.’

‘The Sentencing Council has published its assessment of the impact of its Allocation Guideline, under its statutory duty to monitor the operation and effect of its sentencing guidelines and to draw conclusions from this information.’

‘The issue in the appeal is whether interest is included in the starting point under the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, s 79(2) for the giving of proportionate credit for part payment of a confiscation order.’

‘Defendants will have to disclose their nationality at their first appearance before magistrates in England and Wales from next week under powers that human rights groups say will undermine the right to a fair trial.’

‘A majority of magistrates are women but the sustained increase in their numbers may be concealing a reduction of social diversity on the bench, the national chair of the Magistrates Association has suggested.’

‘A former Court of Appeal judge has stoked the debate about judicial independence by suggesting that rules preventing judges from speaking about their role fuel media and public distrust of the criminal justice system.’

‘A Christian magistrate who lost his job and then his role as an NHS director for speaking out against adoption by same-sex parents will this week sue NHS bosses claiming political correctness can prevent Christians holding public posts.’

‘A council’s bid to obtain a confiscation order over planning enforcement breaches has been halted after a ruling that the indication of pleas of guilty on the two defendants’ behalf and in their presence by counsel appearing for them in the magistrates’ court was an incurable error.’

‘A woman and her daughter charged in connection with what is thought to be Britain’s first all-female alleged terror plot were told to lift their veils in court by a magistrate who asked to see their eyes.’

‘The introduction of tougher punishments for the most serious speeding offences has been welcomed by motoring groups.
Drivers caught at speeds excessively above legal limits face higher penalties in England and Wales from Monday.’